It seems as though every time I take a car off campus and try to go somewhere new I manage to get lost, either that or I don’t turn the ignition switch far enough forward and the car won’t start. I don’t know why this is. I think it’s the same instincts that made me try pruning holly with a can opener one holiday season (they both had metal tops and gray bottoms). It took a long time but I eventually managed to get all the holly we needed to decorate. It was the same tonight, it took a while but I eventually got to my destination: open mic night at B-Sharp Café.

One of the literary magazines I submit to, Creative Colloquy, was kind enough to invite me to perform at their open mic night. I was nervous, and not just about whether or not I would accidentally wind up in Timbuctoo. I hadn’t spoken to anyone there yet; I was Facebook friends with a couple of the founders but that doesn’t entail actually talking. You don’t have to make eye contact on Facebook.

It turns out I had nothing to worry about. It was my first night so everyone was very encouraging. One of the hosts agreed to take a picture of me performing for my parents. Parents want pictures of things like this; it’s in their DNA. There was one awkward moment when another host thought I had been running away when I went back to my car to get my poems. I was nervous but I wasn’t that nervous. I smiled through it. In situations like this it’s best to just smile, like the Madagascar penguins: “Smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.”

In my case it was more like smile and blush but it all worked out just fine. I read my poems, remembered to look up at the audience, and sat down to a nice round of applause. One kind woman patted me on the shoulder as I left and told me I did I good job. I didn’t know her; she was just being nice. It was a random act of niceness.
The other authors had some really good stuff as well. One guy had a really funny piece about the zombie apocalypse. The first woman who went wrote a really sweet story about a mother and her elementary school son. They’re a talented bunch. It would be good to go back sometime; I just have to find it again.

Today I learned that you can promote your book by advertising it on a dating website. You put the cover of your book in the spot where your face goes and people stop to look at it because they’re confused why there’s a book there instead of your face.

I have wanted to be an author since I was in sixth grade and I wrote a thirty page start to a novel during recess. What I’ve learned since then is that getting published, in any capacity, is hard. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve been rejected. You get that same drop in your stomach every time.

This afternoon I attended a workshop with three self-published authors who were kind enough to share the secrets of their success: Renee Meland (class of 2005), James B Reid, and Mark Shaw. That’s where the dating site tip came from. Here are a few more:

1) Do Your Research: If you don’t, you may end up paying way more than you have to for stuff. Meland paid over $300 for cover art she could have bought somewhere else for $60. Also, not all agents are good agents. Never pay an agent upfront.

2) Learn the Computer Voodoo: To be honest I didn’t completely understand this part. My strategy with technology is to turn it off and turn it back on. Somehow I doubt this will work for selling books. On Amazon, the trick is to set your keywords to things that people search for so they find your book. You could select words to describe your book like “thriller” or “adventure.” Apparently, Amazon has a place for you to do this.

3) Pay Attention to the Cover: The cover is your first sales pitch. Make sure it looks good small. On a kindle most covers are about an inch wide, if that.

4) Self-Incorporate: If you become successful, it can be cheaper tax wise to say you are a corporation. Declare yourself the sole proprietor, otherwise it gets messy.

It was a good workshop, but regardless, publishing your stuff is still really hard. Meland compared it to running a marathon. Sometimes, you still have to face that rejection letter: “Unfortunately…” One of the other students asked how you keep going after ten or so rejections. I thought the answer they gave was brilliant: “You just have to.”

Under the names DJ Mamacit and DJ Guagua, my friend Kelsee and I, with the collaboration of our friend Victoria, co-host a show on our college radio station KUPS called “No más”, dedicated to advocating for the rights of the detainees of the Northwest Detention Center.

The NWDC is a for-profit prison owned by the GEO Group that holds 1,575 undocumented immigrants. The purpose of the detention center is to hold individuals suspected of visa violations, entry without papers, or unauthorized arrival, while they are subject to deportation and removal until a decision is made by immigration authorities to grant a visa and release them into the community, or to repatriate them to their country of departure. The NWDC is a place where detainees are paid a mere $1 a day for their labor, where they are not given the critical medical attention they need, are fed unappetizing meals, are dehumanized by the prison’s employees, and are separated from their families. It destroys lives.

The idea to start this show came from inspiration by socially-conscious, decolonizing, activist, rebel musicians like French-Chilean rapper Anita Tijoux. Ana was born in France to two Chilean exiles who had escaped the 1973 coup d’etat that led to Pinochet’s 17-year dictatorship. As a woman of color from a country that continues to suffer from colonialism, and as a citizen of this country who cannot be recognized as truly “American” without being questioned as to “where I’m really from”, her music really resonates with me.

So Ana Tijoux was in LA to bring music to the detainees from outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in a “chant down the walls” concert (link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMxC-Dp-wUg). I thought about how awesome it would be to share her empowering words with the detainees of the NWDC through the radio, which they have access to inside. It evolved into the idea of a program where we share testimonies and poetry by the detainees and their families, as well as news reports in order to get community support for immigrant justice and action against the detention center.

On our friday show we talk about issues ranging from the deportation of the 2014 NWDC hunger strike leader, Cipriano Rios; the expected rape of 80% of women who cross the border, and the hunger strikes at the Karnes detention center for women in Texas. On wednesdays we play themed music, from new Chilean cumbia and Colombian electro tropical, to revolutionary music and Latin top 40.

As Victoria and I will be graduating soon (in 3 weeks!!!) we won’t be back to produce the show 🙁 But Kelsee plans on continuing it together with a new co-host, our friend Nora. I’m sure they will do a great, or even better job (public speaking is hard!). “No más” was a great experience. It was personally important for me to keep these issues alive on a regular basis, and I really enjoyed playing and discovering music.

Most importantly, the NWDC is an exploitative, anti-people of color institution that goes invisible in Tacoma and our lives on this perfect liberal arts campus. We at UPS are in a SPECIAL position to use our privilege to advocate for the detainees, whose stories are largely silenced, and work for their freedom by empowering their voices (I must recognize that this year, we’ve seen collective efforts from groups on campus such as the club Advocates for Detainees’ voices, a student organized panel on the racialized deportation system, and an alternative fall break program on immigration issues in Tacoma). I hope to still be involved in the community after I graduate.